IN THIS ISSUE:

March Training Photos 1

Tree Grafting 2-3

Geoweb Trail 4-6

Video Contest 6

Training Snapshots 7

Production Highlight 8

CORPS NEWS

Volume 11, Issue 6

Apr i l 2015

Jazz English (Puyallup Crew Member) and Chelsy Frakes (Yakima Spike Crew Member) practice digging fire

lines in the Red Card class.

Swiftwater Rescue class participants pull in a

victim in a rescue simulation.

Ethnobotany class participants load the

steam pit with a layer of Sword Fern.

The WCC program gathered at Cispus Learning Center, outside of

Randle, WA, for a week of intensive training. Members gained experience

and earned certifications in a number of classes including Red Card, Haz-

woper, WAFA, Swiftwater Rescue, Search and Rescue, Grant Writing, and

more.

Photos by Laura Schlabach

Page 2 Volume 11, Issue 6

FRUIT TREE GRAFTING: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

The SeaTac and Poulsbo DNR Urban Forestry crews attended a fruit tree grafting workshop pre-

sented by the Shelton Master Gardeners on February 21. Grafting is the combining of a twig or bud

from one plant with the branch or root of another so their vascular tissues unify and continue grow-

ing as a single plant. This process can be used to propagate trees, change cultivars, repair dam-

aged trees, and to develop trees on hardy, disease resistant, or dwarfing root stocks. At the work-

shop, we learned two methods of grafting: cleft grafting and whip grafting.

Common Terms, Tools, and Materials:

The terms scion and stock differentiate between the plants being grafted.

Stock — the root or rooted part of the plant that you are grafting on to; it may be a large tree or

only a young seedling.

Scion — the twig or bud that will be added to the stock.

For all grafting projects you will need an extremely sharp knife. All grafting cuts need to be clean

and precise, both of which require a sharp tool. You will also need grafting tape and grafting com-

pound. Grafting tape holds your graft together until it takes. Specific grafting tape is manufactured,

however, electrical tape, polyvinyl, or a rubber band can also be used. Grafting compound is a

wax used to prevent the plant from drying out. There is a specific grafting compound, but paraffin

wax or a toilet bowl wax ring - yes toilet bowl- work just as well.

Cleft Graft:

A cleft graft involves a stock that is larger than the scions, such as changing a cultivar after cutting

down the old one. To prepare the stock at the base or a branch you wish to graft on to, split the

wood through the center at least 2 inches deep. To prepare the scions, shape the lower end into a

wedge 1 to 1 ½ inches long. To make the graft, insert the scions into the split in the stock making

sure the cambium of the scions and the stock are touching. Seal the stub, cracks, and tips of the sci-

ons with grafting compound to ensure it does not dry out. After a season of growth, cut back the

poorest growing scion to just a few buds, but leave both until the graft heals completely, then you

can remove the weaker scion.

BY: LAUREN KEMPER, POULSBO DNR URBAN FORESTRY CREW MEMBER

Photo credit: biologyplants.wikispaces.com Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org

CORPS NEWS Page 3

“This workshop

has inspired me

to try this at

home and

experiment with

different root

stocks…”

-Lauren Kemper,

Poulsbo DNR

Urban Forestry

Crew

Whip Graft:

The whip graft is ideal for performing top work on young apple and pear

trees as well as for propagating. I had the

opportunity to try this graft at the workshop.

I was pretty pleased with the results of my

first attempt; it was much simpler than it

sounded. Don’t be too intimidated to give

them a shot if you get the chance. With the

whip graft, the stock and scion should be of

roughly equal diameter. The stock and

scion are prepared the same way. Make a

smooth sloping cut through the stock or scion

about 1 to 1 ½ inches long, then on the surface of this cut (about one

third away from the toe) make a ½ inch slit toward the base of the first

cut. This makes a tongue on each piece that can interlock for a more

secure graft. When putting the scion and stock together, be sure the

cambium layers match up on both sides. If the toe of either the stock or

scion extends over the heel of the

other, cut it off evenly. Wrap them in

grafting tape and seal with grafting

compound. Once your scion starts to

grow, remove the compound and tape

to prevent girdling. Cut back any

shoots growing from the stock. This

workshop has inspired me to try this at

home and experiment with different

root stocks and cultivars to make my

own fruit tree. There are plenty of resources online to learn more about

grafting. This video showed the cleft graft really well, and this one is a

good quick video on how to do the whip and tongue graft. I encourage

you to do more research if you are interested in trying some grafting on

your own.

Pear Tree Grafting Project By: Supervisor John Longsworth

In March, the Poulsbo DNR Urban Foresty Crew put these lessons to use

on a grafting project in Shelton. We gathered scions from pear trees

planted in 1870-1890 by Mr. David Shelton, the founder of Shelton. It was

a joint venture with the City of Shelton community development, the

WSU Master Gardeners and the Mason County Historical Society. We

grafted about 100 Dave Shelton pear trees to be planted in new Shel-

ton City parks and sold to the public at Mason's WSU extension plant

sale in mid-May.

Photo credit: biologyplants.wikispaces.com

Photo credit: Chris Hibbard, License

Page 4

“When we try to

pick out

anything by

itself, we find it

hitched to

everything else

in the universe”

-John Muir

Volume 11, Issue 6

B U I L D I N G A G E OW E B TR A I L BY: GILBERT CHARLES, LARISSA JASSO, SAM JOHNSON, ALEX PUMMELL,

AND KEVIN SANDIN, TAHUYA/DNR TRAILS CREW

The interpretive trail at McLane Creek, off Delphi Road on Olympia’s West

side, is one of DNR’s most highly used sites. Those who have walked it in

the winter know that it turns muddy very quickly. Here is a step-by-step

guide to building a GeoWeb trail to increase drainage.

1. Demo and rebuild old boardwalk so that it can support the weight of a

quad and a trailer of gravel. Don't lose any measuring tapes in the water.

2. Rip up old boardwalk. Scrape

and level old trail. Remove 6-8

inches of mud from most of it.

3. Lay down permeable fabric and

cut geoweb to size, holding in place

with gravel. Spend an hour re-

sharpening and cleaning tiny bits of

CORPS NEWS Page 5

“Sound is the

vocabulary of

nature”

-Pierre Schaeffer

4. Haul approximately 74,083,629,404 loads of gravel across a half mile of

twisting boardwalk. Beware of slow moving fauna.

Cont’d p.6

5. Leaving space for drains, fill in the geoweb with gravel. Repeat.

SEND US MATERIAL TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER!

Please send your s tor ies ,

photos , and updates for

publ i sh ing to Maggie Counihan

at maggie.counihan@ecy .wa.gov

Page 6

“In Spring, at the

end of the day

you should smell

like dirt”

-Margaret

Atwood

Volume 11, Issue 6

6. Level gravel in geoweb, then

compact gravel. And compact

gravel again. And again.

7. You are left with a trail that will

hold a truck over permafrost. Or

keep a class of children from being

coated in mud. See it first hand at

McLane Creek! Photos courtesy of DNR Trails Crew

Create a video (up to 3 min.) in one of these categories:

Day-In-The-Life of a Crewmember or IP

How-To/Instructional

Disaster Response/Emergency Preparedness

Why You Should Join WCC

Artistic/Creative

WCC staff will judge videos on creativity and cinematography (i.e.

steady camera!) Bonus points for mentioning AmeriCorps and

Department of Ecology. Winners will receive a prize! Submission

deadline: July 1, 2015. Additional details coming in our May

newsletter. Send questions and video submissions to

laura.schlabach@ecy.wa.gov

W E ’R E L A U N C H I N G A V I D E O C O N T E S T !

W H AT D O E S WCC M E A N T O YO U ?

CORPS NEWS Page 7

“A tree is an

incomprehensible

mystery”

- Jim Woodring

E L E C T I V E TR A I N I N G SN A P S H O T S

Zach Leavitt (Skagit DNR Crew Member)

and Justin Vendettouli (MTSG Crew Mem-

ber) identify hazardous materials in the

Hazwoper class

Steve Hoecker, Forest Service, shows the

Wildland Saws class part of a stump de-

cayed from laminated root rot

Participants in the 3rd Annual Beard and

Moustache Competition

Noelle Ames (King County DNRP

Crew Member) practices wrap-

ping fire hose

Supervisor Geoff Baran (left) and

Bonnie Reed (Poulsbo Urban For-

estry Crew Member) create bow

drills in Wilderness Survival

Supervisor Nick Stevens splices

cable in the rigging course

Page 8

Accommodation

Requests:

To request ADA

accommodation

including materials in

a format for the

visually impaired, call

Ecology, 360-407-

7248. Persons with

impaired hearing

may call Washington

Relay Service at 711.

Persons with speech

disability may call TTY

at 877-833-6341.

Volume 11, Issue 6

Washington Department

of Ecology

PO Box 47600

Olympia, WA 98504-7600

www.ecy.wa.gov/wcc

April 2015

Volume 11, Issue 6

Ecology Publication

No. 15-06-008

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washingtonconservationcorps

The Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) was established in 1983 as a service program

for young adults between the ages of 18-25. The WCC is offered through the Washington

Department of Ecology and continues the legacy started by the Civilian Conservation

Corps in the 1930s. The WCC has been an AmeriCorps program since 1994. Today, the

WCC has around 300 members working on projects in every part of the state. Our part-

ners include Federal, State, Local, and Tribal organizations. For more information please

visit our website: www.ecy.wa.gov/wcc.

ABO U T THE WCC

The Protection Island Aquatic Reserve gets its name from the Protection

Island National Wildlife Refuge located in the center of the reserve. Be-

cause the island is a key nesting area for rare bird species, access is lim-

ited. During the month of February, the DNR Aquatics IP team were

given permission to go to the island to collect sediment for forage fish

spawning surveys. The day was ideal, the normally turbulent waters of

the Strait of Juan de Fuca looked almost like a mirror in the calm of the

late morning. As we cir-

cled the island for the first

time, we looked up on the

bluff and saw several well

fed deer staring down at

us, watching the loud

boat encircle their

home. The deer seemed

unfazed by the dozens of

bald eagles that also oc-

cupied the island. While

most birds were away in

the off season, the island

still had plenty of rare wild-

life to see as the crew

broke into smaller teams and sampled the entire perimeter of the island.

During our sampling we saw even more eagles (that seemed uninter-

ested in us), a couple of otters (which swam away as soon as they spot-

ted us), a large seal which may or may not have been an elephant seal

(a debate that still rages on amongst the crew), and porpoises swim-

ming just a few hundred yards off shore. All the while, the deer contin-

ued to look down on us from the bluff, watching silently. After our sam-

pling was done, we explored parts of the island that were normally used

as nesting grounds for thousands of birds in the summer. We found excit-

ing new vegetation, skeletal remains of birds, and even some deer ant-

lers that the males had just shed after mating season. As we motored

away from the island, we looked back one last time to see the ever-

diligent deer watching our departure, and could only think about the

next time we would be able to sample there again.

A D AY AT PRO T E C T I O N I S L A N D BY: KEVIN JOHNSTON, DNR AQUATICS IP

Photo credit: WA Dept. of Natural Resources, License